England step back from referee complaints

Referee Jonathan Kaplan today dismissed the fierce criticism surrounding his performance in England’s RBS 6 Nations defeat by Ireland and declared: “I was spot on”.

England appear to have backed off from reported plans to lodge an official complaint over Kaplan's performance with the International Rugby Board.

The Rugby Football Union stated a complaint was ‘not expected’ while senior players Josh Lewsey and Martin Corry insisted there is little to be gained from dwelling on the issue.

Nevertheless, Kaplan returned to Cape Town today leaving behind a wake of fierce criticism, particularly over his decisions to disallow ‘tries’ from Mark Cueto and Lewsey.

England head coach Andy Robinson lambasted the South African official after the game, claiming he made several clear mistakes in a game Ireland won 19-13.

The RFU’s referee’s manager Colin High then said Kaplan’s performance would not have been tolerated in the Zurich Premiership, never mind at international level.

But Kaplan remained defiant on his return to Cape Town and warned Robinson there was no place rugby for open criticism of match officials.

He said: “On a personal level, I am very disappointed with Robinson’s remarks.

“I don’t feel it is going anywhere when a coach publicly criticises a referee.

“There were two matters which he believes were critical and I am quite certain I made the correct decision in both of them.

“The one incident where there was an offside (for Mark Cueto’s disallowed try), I can’t see any conclusive evidence to disprove my decision.

“And on the second occasion where there was doubt if a try was scored, I was in a perfect position to adjudicate.

“I didn’t need to use the television referee from where I was and even if I had reason to, the scrum maul was repelled back into the field of play and the ball became unplayable, so technically I was spot on.

“I have watched the footage again and I would have been the first one to put up my hand and admit I had made a mistake if it was so.

“If there is evidence, then perhaps they should give me evidence of my mistakes and I will gladly admit them.”

England’s initial frustrations appear to have subsided and the RFU denied reports an official complaint to the IRB was imminent.

And Lewsey, who felt he had been driven over for a try which, if converted, would have won England the game, said: “All players have bad days and rugby referees are only human. Sometimes players can cost Test matches and referees can as well. But I have no issue with him.

“That is Test match rugby. You have got to take it on the chin. Sometimes you get the rub of the green, sometimes you don’t.

“The sign to me of a world-class team is being able to close that game even when you haven’t got it (decisions) on your side. We still had an opportunity to do that and we didn’t.”

“It’s very easy to blame other factors but I think on a playing level we will certainly look within and pick out areas where we could develop and can improve.

“By and large it was a very positive performance against what is now one of the world’s best teams.”

Corry, who scored England’s only try, added: “I think we had enough chances to win the game but when you lose these marginal games people start looking for all kinds of reasons.

“At the end of the day we lost a Test match we should and could have won.”